Arson Los Angeles County

BEVERLY HILLS 1. Beverly Hills was relatively untouched by violence, but a police chase that began within the city early Thursday ended in a fatal car crash in Hollywood. The car's three occupants--two men and a woman--were killed when the vehicle hit a fire hydrant just off Santa Monica Boulevard and flipped on its top.

Investigators said a fire in east Compton on Thursday night may be the latest in a series of arson cases in Paramount and Compton since October. Details of Thursday's fire matched the others, said Sgt. Larry Krookshanks of the Los Angeles County Sheriff's arson unit. As in previous cases, small items were stolen from the home at 4929 E. San Marcus St. before the fire was set, he said. Seven cases have been reported in Paramount, nine in Compton.

In the wake of the fire that destroyed the Ledler Building in Burbank, it's hard to imagine that anything representing beauty and grace ever existed there. Now it's a mass of grotesquely twisted girders, collapsed walls, melted office equipment, shattered glass and towering black mounds of ruined documents. The stench of burnt wood and paper was so intense--weeks after the Jan. 24 fire--that clean-up crews sifting through the debris wore face masks.

A retired Los Angeles firefighter charged with beating his wife, stalking her and torching her car has been captured in Nevada after South Pasadena investigators pursued him for about 2 1/2 years. It was retirement money that David Walter Pierson earned fighting fires for 27 years that led to his capture Sept. 18 in Laughlin, Nev., said South Pasadena Police Sgt. Mark Miller. "They always say follow the money," Miller said.

The county may set up shop in portable trailers or rent temporary quarters to cope with an arson fire that forced its busiest welfare office to shut down indefinitely, officials said Wednesday. The Panorama City office on Lanark Street remained boarded up Wednesday while county inspectors prepared a report on the extent of the damage from Tuesday's pre-dawn fire. The fire was set by an arsonist who broke in and doused the second floor of the east wing with gasoline before fleeing.

A Burbank landmark was destroyed Tuesday morning when a blaze burned down the Castaway restaurant atop the Verdugo Hills, gutting the business noted for its breathtaking hillside view and prompting an arson investigation. "Some things are suspicious about this fire," said Burbank Fire Capt. Steve Patterson. A dog trained to detect 18 types of incendiary liquids led arson investigators to a can of the type that usually contains paint, Patterson said.

Tom Hooker loved to tell his family stories about his glory days on the Los Angeles Police Department. And, if some of his yarns were strikingly similar to those in the "T.J. Hooker" television series of the mid-1980s, Hooker had a story for that, too. Retired from the force, Hooker was working as a security guard when the TV drama first aired, starring William Shatner as a hardened hero cop shaken by a tattered marriage and the shooting death of his partner.

Five people were killed and a sixth was severely burned when an explosion and fire, believed to be arson, gutted a two-story home on a quiet San Marino street early Monday. Officials said the five bodies were so charred that firefighters could not discern the sex of those killed or even determine whether they were children or adults. The officials said three children lived in the spacious, neatly tended house at 2160 Sherwood Road with their parents, Leonardo and Lusje Morita, and a housekeeper.

Tom Hooker loved to tell his family stories about his glory days on the Los Angeles Police Department. And, if some of his yarns were strikingly similar to the "T.J. Hooker" television series of the mid-1980s, Hooker had a story for that, too. Retired from the force, Hooker was working as a security guard when the TV drama first aired, starring William Shatner as a hardened hero cop shaken by a tattered marriage and the shooting death of his partner.

In the days after a pre-dawn fire destroyed their home, killing their three small children, Jo Ann and Ronald Parks received a huge outpouring of support. Friends and well-wishers--many from their own blue-collar community in Bell--sent cards, flowers and, most of all, cash. The tally of donations reached nearly $35,000. But even as sympathizers were opening their hearts, arson and homicide detectives were quietly opening a case.

Three juveniles were arrested in an arson fire that damaged two boats Wednesday, authorities said. The boys--13, 14, and 15 years old--were seen leaving the fire at Pier 44 on 13441 Mindanao Way, said Sheriff's Lt. Robert Dillard. The boys were released to their parents pending charges of arson, he said. The fire, which occurred shortly before 2 p.m., caused about $23,000 in damage to a fishing boat and about $5,000 in damage to another boat, Dillard said.

A suspected arson fire Saturday destroyed a historic bungalow that was abandoned and overrun by weeds but had been part of an elegant Pasadena resort in the 1920s. The fire that gutted the structure by the former Vista del Arroyo Hotel at Grand Avenue near Green Street and threatened others may have been set by two teenagers seen running out of the brushy three-acre lot about 2:45 p.m., said Pasadena Fire Department arson investigator Steve Lawhorn. A building housing a branch of the U.S.

A 52-year-old Lancaster man was arrested on suspicion of arson in connection with a fire at the house he lived in, authorities said Monday. Gabriel Perez was being held in lieu of $100,000 bail at the Los Angeles County Jail in Lancaster, according to the Sheriff's Department. County firefighters extinguished the blaze, which caused $90,000 in damage to the two-story house, authorities said. An unidentified firefighter suffered second-degree burns to his hands, authorities said.

A 52-year-old Lancaster man was arrested for allegedly burning down his house, authorities said Monday. Gabriel Perez was being held on $100,000 bail at the Los Angeles County jail in Lancaster, according to the Los Angeles County Sheriff's Department. He was arrested Sunday at a nearby business after witnesses told investigators they saw him leave the scene on a bicycle, officials said.

The home of an elderly West Hills couple found slain in their bed had been set afire early Monday in an apparent attempt to cover up the crime, police said. Firefighters responding to a small blaze at a residence in the 7200 block of Pomelo Drive made the discovery shortly after 7 a.m. as they entered the home of William Lasky, 76, and his wife, Bertha, 73, authorities said. The couple had just returned Saturday from a Caribbean cruise, friends said.

A suspicious fire caused at least $1 million in damage to several businesses at a strip mall Wednesday morning, Los Angeles County Fire Department officials said. Firefighters were dispatched to the mall at 5211 E. Washington Blvd. at 4:10 a.m. and had the blaze knocked down about two hours later, said Fire Department supervisor Cheryl Paterson. No one was injured, although residents from a few nearby homes were evacuated as a precaution, authorities said.

In another sign of the growing problem of global dumping, the head of a Chatsworth company has been indicted by a federal grand jury for illegally trying to ship more than a ton of hazardous waste to Pakistan, U.S. Atty. Lourdes G. Baird announced in Los Angeles on Monday.

Saying that his crimes showed "great violence and sophistication," a judge sentenced former Glendale arson investigator John Leonard Orr to life in prison without the possibility of parole Thursday for setting a fire that killed four people at a South Pasadena hardware store. Superior Court Judge Robert J.